When I wrote this artifact my Mind Tool was a photo sharing site. I listed Facebook, Tumblr, Photobucket and Voice Thread. No Twitter. No Instagram. However, these two tools would fall under the same mind tool category. Finally, after working out my in class sharing bugs I started getting students to share more publically. This is artifact 4 in this section; using Twitter. That artifact could not have come in to play had I not created this project. It was the seed, the foundation. It was the push I needed to shift my course into an immersive digital environment.

In revisiting this artifact I can see that it not only represents the concept of digital literacies in content, but also in its format. I created a multimodal presentation, it its PowerPoint format, that allows the reader to navigate in a non-linear way. It is almost like a website. I used hyperlinks within the document and to web spaces as well. I also added on my narration. This was the first time I had ever created a multimodal presentation. The artifact is a presentation but it can function without my presence. The presentation is no longer temporal because I added the oral dictation. It is a great snapshot of where I was at when I created this. I loved the final product so much that I actually did other presentations in this format throughout the program. For me, I am able to draw on my design strengths, writing abilities and verbal expressiveness. I have even started encouraging my students to created autonomous presentations that function without them, breaking the boundaries of time.

Thematic Connections

Finally, this tool reflects the nature of my Master's learning because it is interconnected with my other themes. This artifact shows educational leadership because in it I propose a new way to do something traditional. I call into question my own practices and, using relevant research, give convincing arguments for change. It has, consequently, put me in a leadership role in my school and my students have been empowered to lead as well as they take learning from my class into other areas of their lives. Recently, I was asked to share my practices in my digital photography classroom as an exemplar for staff on how effective and influential student feedback can be. I am proud to say that my peers were really impressed with how articulate and comfortable my students were at giving and receiving feedback and how wonderful their work was that was created digitally. I think, as a result, some of them will modify their practices. While the topic was different (self and peer assessment), the vehicle for that assessment was this digital sharing that emerged out of this artifact. Additionally, I think through this artifact social and cultural contexts have been examined. In the content of the work I explored the way in which my students currently share photographs. I considered their digital culture, their norms of practice, as well as the challenges of that culture. I employed this information into my design and used it to inform my choices in terms of delivery, tools, and potential pitfalls.

I am certainly not done employing change in my photography class. Even after reviewing this artifact I am reminded of things I want and need to do. Next year my grade 12s are going to start building their digital portfolio from the start of the semester. All my classes are going to be sharing weekly images on Twitter and Instagram, which will be linked on their portfolio. I am even considering leaving our board site (moodle) and creating a website that can link to all of my students (past and present). I plan on connecting more to our school community, parent community and global community. My numbers are down for next year, I have been exploring the reasons for that. Perhaps there was a disconnect with those who taught while I was on maternity leave and the way I teach. Perhaps students aren’t prepared for how much work photography truly is. My students that stuck out the year can’t understand why their peers did not. I think one thing I need to start doing is promoting the course and celebrating their work in a way that is more widely viewed and valued.